Paul Schwartz
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Posts
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Posts posted by Paul Schwartz
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As Jim has pointed out, this is not a democracy, and I don't know why anyone would think it is. Concertina.net is not a country, it's a web site. I built it (it began as a single page almost 10 years ago!), and I run it with Ken's help, so if there's anything "democratic", it's Ken and I discussing things and acting. Is Amazon.com a democracy? How about eBay? Good grief.
Friendly advice: if you're going to go behind my back, don't admit it in public. Bad move.
Thanks,
Paul
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Hello,
This feed works fine for me too. Thank you for this new feature !
May I request RSS feeds for 2 more forums ?
Instrument Construction & Repair
Concertina History
Regards,
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Takayuki YAGI
Shizuoka, Japan
Done! Enjoy,
Paul
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I've enabled an RSS feed of the main "General Discussion" forum here. Click on the little RSS orange button at the bottom left of the site and you can get the URL, which you can then use to add this Concertina.net feed to your favourite aggregator. I've tested it with my MyYahoo page and it appears to work fine. Any other interest? I'm not a real RSS user, so this is the first time I've really thought about it... I can make feeds for the other forums too I guess if there's any interest.
Paul
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I fixed it. The calendar must have been re-set to require moderation after the most recent upgrade. I've approved all the events I could find, and have turned off the moderation requirement.
Thanks,
Paul
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Okay, the "merge posts made within 10 minutes" feature has been turned off. Thanks to Jim for pointing out this annoying feature to me. I guess it makes sense for boards where flooding is more of a problem, but not here!
Paul
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I've found out that consecutive posts within 10 minutes are merged and treated as a "P.S.". I'll see if I can turn this off. It's designed to cut down on spam and clutter (to help prevent flooding a topic).
Paul
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Our admin guys would have to change the favicon.ico from the Invisionboard one to a C.Net one.
Like the one I just made up: (Feel free to use it, guys!)
Cool -- thanks! Another one of the zillion little details I just never got around to doing for the site... hope you don't mind that I added it as the site default?
Paul
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I'm posting this on behalf of Margaret Birley, Keeper of Musical Instruments, The Horniman Museum:
"The Horniman Museum owes a profound debt of gratitude to Bob Gaskins for his work in digitizing the extant ledgers of the concertina factory of C. Wheaststone & Co. He devised the plan for the project and undertook the work of creating the scans from the original documents, enhancing the readability of the digitized images, creating a database for the webpages, and preparing the website and CDs. It is through his good offices that the project has been realized. Not only the Horniman Museum but also other institutions and individuals wishing to publish paper records as electronic files may benefit from Bob Gaskins' work, as he has written a step by step guide 'How the Wheatsone Concertina Ledgers were Digitized for publication on the Web and CD', which is published on www.horniman.info"
Well done Bob. I think this should keep everybody happy for months, if not years.I don't think we can praise Bob enough for the work and effort he has put into this! It is a real legacy to the concertina world, although Bob continues to modestly try to hide behind the fact that its a Horniman Museum work.
Some of us were lucky enough to be beta testers on the early site, and as Allan Atlas indicates above, some work has already started. We have already produced a draft index by date of C104a (the ledger containing the first 1500 instruments), since it was the only one that is not date based. So before anybody goes off into a research project, its probably worth checking here to see if anybody else is working along the same lines, or has already completed something you need to do.
All hands to the pumps!
best wishes ..wes
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I'm posting this email I received from a non-member. --Paul.
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Would you pass this obituary of Murdoch on to whoever has been asking for information? As a non-member of the forum (which I found via Google) I can send it direct. Murdoch was my great grandfather. Colin Smythe
Born in 1830 at Huntingtower, Perthshire. Early in life he was apprenticed to block cutting for printing on cotton, but block printing having been supplanted by machine printing immediately after the end of his apprenticeship, he preferred not to be tied to a decaying trade and signed articles for a second apprenticeship to the new process. As an apprenticeship in those days was invariably for seven years, he was about 27 years old [ie 1857] before his apprenticeship days were over, although he had begun at the age of 13. After being engaged for several years as a machine printer he began to long for a wider field for his energies, and although his employers were reluctant to part with him, and promised him rapid promotion if he would remain, he relinquished the cotton printing and connected himself with the firm of Messrs. Collins & Co. , of Glasgow, who were developing business rapidly as publishers of Family Bibles and similar works. He established successful agencies for their publications in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and other towns in the North of England. In 1871 he came to London and began publishing on his own account, his principal business continuing to be in Family Bibles, of which he issued editions in Welsh and Dutch, as well as English. At that time the Family Bible was more popular than it is today, and Mr Murdoch’s annual output for a number of years was more than 30,000, which were supplied to all parts of the Empire.
It was the custom in those days to give a premium plate to purchasers of the Family Bible and this eventually led Mr Murdoch into print publishing. At the time when the oleograph was in it prime and publishers were eager to issue first-class pictures in the artistic style, he established a great business in this department. He secured paintings from some of the most eminent artists of the day, such as the late Alphonse de Neuville, Richard Beavis, Frederick Goodall, R.A., Phil Morris, A.R.A., Robert Müller, and others, and from these he reproduced pictures in the best style of colour printing then extant. Several of these pictures had the good fortune to attract the attention of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, and owing to her patronage and the merits of the pictures themselves, they commanded an enormous sale.
About the same period the trade in photograph albums arose to great proportions in England, and as it had been for many years the practice to put a family portrait register into the Family Bible, it was an easy transition for the great Family Bible publisher to become an album publisher as well, and that on a large scale.
This album publishing had a great influence on the future of Mr Murdoch’s business, for, strange to say, it formed the base of the extensive musical business for which Messrs. Murdoch & Co. are now well known. The stages of this curious development are simple enough when understood. In many of the portrait albums it became the custom to supply a little Swiss musical box which played as the album was opened. This Mr Murdoch supplied in many of his albums, and speedily he found himself interested not only in that but in all kinds of musical boxes, up to the very largest and most expensive. The business in musical boxes grew rapidly, and customers on all sides began to press for instruments of other kinds, so that in a short time there grew up a considerable trade in pianofortes and organs and all sorts of musical instruments.
Early in 1883 Mr Murdoch’s business was amalgamated with that of Messrs. John and Alexander Dow (an offspring, several years previous) and converted into a private company, Mr Murdoch becoming the chairman and Messrs. John Dow, George Murdoch, and Alexander Dow the other directors. This company has followed the lines laid down by Mr Murdoch, and has grown steadily from that time until now.
The business in pianos and organs eventually became so large that it was found necessary to start factories to supply the needs of the company, and from these have emerged the well-known concerns of Spencer & Co., who have lately become pianoforte makers to H.R.H. the Princess of Wales, and Malcolm & Co., organ and Phoneon makers, Regent’s Park. In both these concerns Mr Murdoch was the senior partner, and his sons, Mr J.G.Murdoch Junr and Mr James Murdoch, the respective managing partners.
During the building of this great business, Messrs Murdoch & Co. have ever been zealous that all their concerns should be conducted in the most straightforward manner, and that the goods manufactured and sold by them should be strictly in accordance with their description, and of sound quality. As time has passed, even the most violent of their opponents have come to see that the businesses established by Mr Murdoch and his company have been a help to the musical instrument trade, and that they are amongst its most useful members.
Mr Murdoch was a most loveable man, and everyone who came in personal touch with him found him to be a real friend. In him was to be seen none of the bluster and overbearing character usually associated with a successful business career. The marvellous success which converted a working cotton printer of 1857 into the great manufacturer and merchant of 1902 was due to a rare sympathy with men, which drew out their best from those with whom he was associated – a clearness of mind which saw plainly the practical; a shrewdness of judgment that saved him from making many mistakes; a courage that boldly seized the occasion; and a quiet perseverance that grappled with and overcame whatever difficulties lay in his path. Combined with these rare business qualities, he possessed a mind of lofty religious character. Throughout his life he never failed to meet an engagement and never broke a promise.
Mr Murdoch took an active part in the political life of St Pancras, and more than once was invited to stand for Parliament. In 1892 he was candidate for East Renfrewshire, a district familiar to him since boyhood, and he made a capital fight, greatly reducing the majority against his side; but the times were against him, and he shared with many others the disastrous fortunes of his party throughout the country.
The world is poorer for the passing of Mr Murdoch, and those who were in touch with him have sustained a loss in his death that time can never make good, but his influence remains, and they who are left in charge of the businesses founded by him have doubtless received an inspiration that will carry them forward on the principles he laid down.
He died in 1902.
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Thanks Ross. I've deleted Jonni and his junk, and put in some MORE filters... Ken and I are trying our best to stay on top of these scumbags. Sigh, yes, it is frustrating... especially with the hundreds and hundreds of spam emails I get everyday in my in-box.
Paul
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1. Separate Registrations:
These forums use a SEPARATE registration system than the one on the rest of the site. I know it's not really convenient, but trust me, it would be WAY too complicated to try and tie the two together at this point. So just be sure to register again on the forums if you'd like to join in the discussions.
2. Email Address/Confirmation: to help cut down on spammers and auto-posters, the Forums registration system uses a confirmation email, so be sure to put in your CORRECT email address when you register. And if you don't receive the confirmation email within a few minutes, make sure to check your spam-catcher folder (Norton Anti-Spam folder for example) and/or spam filters. This is a VERY common reason for people not seeing the confirmation email and so not being able to complete the registration.
Thanks!
Paul
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I increased the upload/attachment space available to each person to 3.5 megabytes. This should allow for quite a few photos. The limit is there for security (to keep someone from maliciously trying to crash the server by bombarding it with junk) and to keep you aware that space = money on servers, so please don't attach junk and think about image sizes (re-size/optimize if it makes sense, BEFORE attaching the image).
But if you're simply a prolific contributor and need more space for legitimate postings/attachments, just let me know and I'd be happy to oblige.
Thanks,
Paul
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Yes, I'm aware of the database errors this week. It's not related to the forum software upgrade. The site is hosted on a shared server, and some other site was very busy this week, increasing the load on the database server. This can happen when a site gets a major media mention and so great numbers of people visit a site all within a few hours of publication... The hosting company is aware of the problem and we're monitoring the situation, but things seem to have calmed down now so hopefully the site should be back to normal now. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Paul
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Here is a summary doc of new features/changes, found on the company's web site:
http://docs.invisionpower.com/kb/article.php?id=226
Paul
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The tool-tip when you hover over it says, rather enticingly, "toggle multiquote addition" [...]
I figured it out -- pretty cool. You just click all the messages you want to quote (making the quote button turn red with a dash), but then click the Reply button, NOT a "quote" button, and voila, all the selected messages show up as quotes in your reply -- neat!
Paul
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Thanks are due to you as ever, Paul, for putting your time and your money into hosting this superb community. A very good New Year to you.
Cheers,
Chris
Thanks Chris. I appreciate it, and wish you (and everyone else of course) all the best for the new year too!
Paul
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Yes, the forum software upgrade was completed by Invision yesterday (I paid them to do it to make sure it went smoothly and no data was lost). Everything is properly installed and upgraded, but the templates/skins are reset to mostly default settings because it was a pretty major version upgrade, so old customizations were lost.
So I'll be working to reset the templates, adding back the logos, ads, and links as appropriate.
Some other settings may have been reset (like the max file/photo upload setting which I just increased back to a larger value to allow more photo uploads per user), so if things aren't working as expected, just send me (or Ken Coles) an email or PM and I'll try to fix it.
Thanks,
Paul
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Ken the QUOTE buttons are visible, but maybe not when you are half-sleeping
However I have problems to add an image of 20 kb
I see on the bottom left this message:
Attachments
Global Space Left: 0bytes
Does this mean that attachments are passé ??
This should be fixed. I upped the default max total upload limit for members...
Thanks,
Paul
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I'm posting this on behald of Linda Mann:
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Another very exciting House Concert is coming up in Middletown:
MICHAEL ROONEY (harp, concertina) & JUNE MCCORMACK (flute)
DATE: FRI. Oct 8
TIME: 8 PM
VENUE: 145 Margarite Rd. Ext. (Please find Directions at end of this email or ring Jody)
SUGGESTED DONATIONS: $20, $10 conc.
For RESERVATIONS please contact
Jody Cormack Viswanathan at 860-346-4422 or 860-685-3826.
"The playing by Michael Rooney and June McCormack ... indeed casts a spell--not the kind that puts you in a coma, but the kind that provides sustained, seamless pleasure." (Earl Hitchner)
I feel truly honored to have these outstanding young musicians perform in "our own humble four walls," having admired their unique musicianship for a long time. Don't miss an evening of magic music!
Please find more artist info and directions below.
Also, on a short notice, there'll be another not to be missed concert this Tuesday, Sep 21 on the Wesleyan Campus. Swedish Band VASEN will be performing in the Multi Purpose Room in the Student Center on Church Street at 8pm. Visit
http://www.drone.se/english/vasen.html for band info. A student organization, the World Music Collective is putting on the gig and I am totally psyched about it! You can call the Wesleyan Coordinator's Office for Directions (860-685-2280).
Further Upcoming events will include a fund raising event for our house concert series in November (we had to reschedule from the original date and will let you know more details soon).
Old-timey fiddler/singer/guitarist BRUCE MOLSKY is playing a solo acoustic show on Sun, Nov 7 at 3pm in Russel House/Wesleyan Campus. The gig is FREE and there'll be a lovely coffee/snack reception after the gig.
Scottish guitar wizard TONI MCMANUS and BRUCE MOLSKY will be playing Wesleyan on Dec.2. More info soon.
Sin e for now.
Look forward to seeing you Oct. 8th.
All the best,
Anna
Michael Rooney
Michael comes from Co. Monaghan. He is a music graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast. Michael is an internationally recognized harpist and concertina player, as well as a tutor and producer on the Irish musical scene. He is also a well known composer of traditional Irish music in Ireland, and many of his compositions can be heard on his CD ‘Ocras’. Michael spent three years working for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and produced the Comhaltas tours of Britain, Ireland and America during that time.
He is senior All-Ireland Champion on the harp and winner of the prestigious Granard and Keadue harp competitions on several occasions. He recorded with ‘The Chieftains’ on their Grammy award wining CD entitled ‘The Celtic Harp’ and toured the US with the group.
He is senior All-Ireland Champion on the harp and winner of the prestigious Granard and Keadue harp competitions on several occasions. He recorded with ‘The Chieftains’ on their Grammy award wining CD entitled ‘The Celtic Harp’ and toured the US with the group.
June Mc Cormack
June comes from Ballintogher, Co. Sligo. She won the senior flute competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 1998. In the same year, June was presented with the Young Traditional Musician of the Year award by TG4 (Irish Language T.V. Channel). An album recorded with the group ‘Síona’, took Ireland by storm in 1998.
DIRECTIONS:
from north:
take Route 9 south to exit 11. Turn left at the end
of the ramp. Go through
blinking lights and past firehouse. Turn left at the
first set of traffic lights
(Millbrook Rd.). Go exactly one and a half miles.
Turn right onto Livingston Rd.
(landmark is Daniel's Farm on the left, just before
the turn. If you pass the
powerlines, you've gone too far!). Take Livingston
Rd., as it winds around a
little, to the first street on your left (Margarite
Rd. Ext.). Landmark is a stop
sign facing the other way. Number 145 Margarite Road
Ext. is the house at the fourth
mailbox, PAST the powerlines, on the right. The
house number 145 Margarite
Rd. Ext. is on the mailbox.
Same directions work from the south, except take
Route 9 north to exit 11.
Anna Falkenau
860-685-6397
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Hmmm... Steve seems to be selling a lot of high-priced instruments though this site, but he must keep forgetting to send me the requested donation. Just a reminder that if you use the site to sell an instrument, I do ask for at least a donation equal to 1% of the selling price (FAR less than eBay would cost you, and less risky!).
Thanks,
Paul
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My email address is in about a zillion address books, so of course you'll likely see emails with virus attachements which look like they come from me (I myself get several dozen a day!).
I use plenty of up-to-date virus protection software of course (on my server and client).
Paul
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Can't we make musicians wear a flag like this too? So that way when you go see a band or performer, and one or more of them are poor musicians, you can know when to duck out for a bathroom or beer break. Just a thought...
Paul
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Thanks for letting me know... I've deleted the user. The current registration system (with email validation) makes it tougher for scummy people like this to invade the site, but not impossible (if they're really determined). So just let me know when you spot people or posts which don't belong and Ken or I will zap them...
Thanks!
Paul
Forum Problem?
in Forum Questions, Suggestions, Help
Posted
All fixed up now. Yes, a virus attack on the Forums system/server was the cause. It has been cleaned and patched and all passwords changed. Hopefully this should be the end of it...
Paul